In the field of bone and mineral research, it is important to be able to access metabolic tissue for the purpose of diagnosis or determining the pathogenesis of disease and efficacy of treatment. Access to osseous tissue is complicated by traumatic surgical intervention. Therefore, previously available data from hard tissue samples has been susceptible to wide variance due to the adverse impacts of surgical procedures and sampling instrumentation.
An effective bone sampling instrument must be capable of removing a sample without undue alteration of the morphology of the tissue. Further, the apparatus must be biocompatible, evoking no foreign body responses while it is implanted in the bone tissue. In addition, bone-implant interference and chemical adhesions must be of such a nature that the apparatus becomes a permanent fixture in the bone.
The required level of fixation or integration has been demonstrated with materials such as commercially pure titanium, titanium alloys, and titanium coatings. Titanium has the advantages of high strength, light weight, machinability and biocompatible corrosion behavior. U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,891 issued to Branemark is directed to a method for forming a titanium oxide material which is inert when placed in bone. Prior investigations both in the United States and abroad indicate that implants of titanium in bone become osseointegrated within weeks or months. Titanium and titanium alloys have been used for constructing oral prostheses, cardiac pacemaker housings, and fasteners for reconstructive surgery.
To date, there has been no teaching in the prior art of an effective apparatus for removing a sample of living bone tissue without undue destruction of the bone morphology. The analytic bone implant device of the present invention, as described in greater detail hereinbelow, overcomes the difficulties related to prior bone sampling techniques by providing a means for a permanent atraumatic access to otherwise inaccessible biological tissues. Tissues of interest include cancellous bone and marrow, cells, and physiologic fluids.